HCBK (MM)

PARAMUS, N.J., Sept. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- According to a new study, Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCBK), the largest savings bank headquartered in New Jersey and the third largest thrift in the United States, was rated among the top three lenders, nationwide, for conservative mortgage underwriting standards. The study was conducted by SMR Research Corporation, the nation's largest publisher of research on consumer finance. According to Ronald E. Hermance, Jr., Hudson City's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, "The conclusions drawn from the SMR study give testament to our strong underwriting policies and sound lending practices." The findings are part of The Mortgage Credit Crisis, a 250-page study which utilized six measures of credit risk to evaluate the nation's largest 163 mortgage lenders -- ranking them from lax to most prudent. "The risk and potential fallout from sub-prime mortgage lending is being widely covered in the media. These mortgages carry significantly more credit risk and in today's real estate market represent a great source of concern to those who now hold them in their loan portfolios. We do not conduct business in these high-risk areas, and now there is ample evidence that our customers and stockholders have benefited from this position," Mr. Hermance said. SMR looked at loan documents filed with county courthouses around the country and at loan data filed with the federal government to meet Home Loan and Mortgage Disclosure Act requirements. The lender's credit risk score was assigned based on a review of how much equity customers had in their homes, whether customers were paying high interest rates or very low teaser rates, whether or not the customer's income information was included on loan documents, and whether lenders allowed a high percentage of their customers to use "piggyback" second mortgages -- instead of making down payments. SMR used a risk factor weighting system to calculate an "Overall Risk Score". SMR's study identified a mortgage lender as "an average credit risk" by designating the lender with a score of 1,000. A score below 1,000 indicates a lender is a lower credit risk than the national average and a score higher than 1,000 indicates a greater risk. The scores of mortgage lenders nationally ranged from a high credit risk ranking of 2,704 to a low credit risk ranking of 243. Hudson City received a score of 302, reflecting its excellent lending practices. Hudson City Savings Bank, among the top fifty banks in the United States by asset size, is recognized as The Most Efficient Bank in the country. This enables Hudson City to deliver significant values to customers in the form of higher deposit yields, competitive mortgage rates, lower fees, and a straightforward, streamlined loan process. Hudson City, the largest savings bank headquartered in New Jersey, also serves customers throughout the surrounding metropolitan area with branches located in Westchester, Fairfield, Putnam, and Rockland counties, as well as in Long Island, Staten Island, and the New Jersey suburbs of Philadelphia. Deposit accounts at Hudson City are FDIC insured to the maximum allowed by law. This release may contain certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and may be identified by the use of such words as "may," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "should," "plan," "estimate," "predict," "continue," and "potential" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, estimates with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business of Hudson City Bancorp and statements that are subject to various factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from these estimates. Any or all of the forward-looking statements in this release and in any other public statements made by Hudson City may turn out to be wrong. They can be affected by inaccurate assumptions Hudson City might make or by known or unknown risks and uncertainties. Consequently, no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Hudson City does not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this release or to conform these statements to actual events. DATASOURCE: Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. CONTACT: Susan Munhall, Investor Relations, of Hudson City Bancorp, Inc., +1-201-967-8290, Web site: http://www.hcbk.com/

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